NBC's "Fashion Star" boasts not only two of pop culture's most famous clotheshorses, Jessica Simpson and Nicole Richie, but also a dramatic twist.

The designs bought on each episode by the three stores featured - Saks Fifth Avenue, Macy's and H&M -- will be available for purchase online immediately after the show and in stores the next morning.

"It's for every woman and every pocketbook," Elle Macpherson, host and producer of "Fashion Star," said at a recent press session. "Having this selection of brilliant retailers like we have really allows people from every economic situation to tap into the retailer that works best for them or is best for their lifestyle."

"Fashion Star" debuts at 8:30 tonight on NBC with a 90-minute premiere full of music, spectacle and scantily clad models. It moves to its regular time period, 9 p.m. Tuesdays, on March 20.

What sets this runway reality show apart from others on cable - most notably Lifetime's "Project Runway" - is that viewers won't actually see the designers sew. However, they will see them try their darnedest to sell.

Richie and Simpson agreed that having talent is important, but respecting the consumer is just as crucial.

"Once you get detached from that, thinking you're this hotshot designer, is when everything goes to waste," Simpson said.

"There's a difference in being an artist and being a businessperson," Richie added, "and you have to be both in this industry."

The show works like this: The designers - initially 14 men and women from a variety of cities and walks of life - choose their best creations and have a model strut them down the runway.

Then, as on singing competitions "The Voice" and "The X Factor," a panel of mentors comments on the designs. These include Simpson and Richie, who have developed their own successful fashion lines, and John Varvatos, an accomplished menswear designer.

Once theirs are registered, a representative from each store either gives a thumbs-down to a designer or bids on the clothes. Sometimes, the dress or suit is so fabulous, two or three stores fight it out.

"You're not waiting until the end of the season to see who wins this show," executive producer Rick Ringbakk said. "Every episode, these designers are getting the chance of a lifetime."

At the end of each show, contestants who do not sell any of their items go up for elimination. Simpson, Richie and Varvatos will be able to save one from the chopping block, leaving the others at the mercy of the show's buyers.

The designer still standing at the season's end will become the "fashion star" and receive the top prize: $6 million in orders for collections in Macy's, H&amp;M and Saks.

As the first show illustrates, dialogue between contestants and mentors can get prickly. When one male designer questions Richie and Simpson's ability to give advice about men's fashions, Simpson is quick to take him to task.

"To talk down to a woman in this business?" Simpson scolds, adding: "We're running the world right now, OK? I really kind of want to kind of hit you across the face."